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Rufus Norris’s exciting revival of this 1954 play by James Baldwin puts its
certainties on top and its doubts down below. The upper level of Ian
MacNeil’s set is the Harlem church where we first see Marianne
Jean-Baptiste’s Sister Margaret preaching and singing, accompanied by a cast
bolstered by the London Community Gospel Choir. As Baptiste growls and
shakes and holds the room with a stern but luminous charisma, Margaret’s
faith is unshakeable.

Over the next two hours, Baldwin — whose stepfather was an authoritarian
preacher, and who preached himself in his teens — does some shaking.
Downstairs we have Margaret’s apartment.